Data-revealing device



March 11, 1941. l. GOLDNER DATA-REVEALING DEVICE Filed 001;. 10, 1959 2Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR [Ill/0]! fiafilmzm XWMMM ATTORNEYS IL r JHNURRYLEI] r March 11,

l. GOLDNER 2.Sheets-Sheet 2 1911 1998 9 127? 1:1 111117 1572 :11 .551?1992 19:10 magi $51111? 8 1999 5 1999 1992 1999 16 APR. 11 19111 1917 11on.

9 1999 95c FEB. 1999 20 ""1921 11911 29 21 JUN. 1999 29 19991929 19 291999 1919 17/ 1991 1 1 1J E' 2Z "19 & 19@ 10 9N. 1979 1959 7 1977 19911999 E 2??? lNVENTO R [516/0 6 fio/dnz I BY WXM M w! ATTORNEY PatentedMar. 11, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 10 Claims.

This invention relates to a structurally and functionally improveddata-revealing device which may function as a puzzle in order torevealin the hands of the initiated-information which will bebewildering and inexplicable to the uninitiated.

While the present invention may be employed in numerous differentassociations and in order to simultaneously furnish a variety ofinformation such as, the .age, height, and weight of a certain person,the age of the inquirer, and the ages of his two parents, the two orthree initials of the given and last names of any person, etc., it willbe of particular utility when employed to give information such as themonth, day of the month, and year of a birth or other event.

It is an object to furnish a unit of this character which may thus beemployed for numerous different purposes but which in all of itsembodiments will embrace a relatively compact set of individual elementsor cards capable of manufacture at a nominal figure so that the unitmay, for example, have associated with it advertising data and be givenaway or, if desired,

' may be sold for amusement and entertainment purposes.

A further object is that of furnishin a device of this type which willrequire no special skill for its manipulation so long as the personemploying the same is initiated in its use; which comprises among othersthe exhibiting of cards bearing certain portions of the various data tobe correlated and having the spectator indicate whether or not each cardso presented does or does not contain data which comprises in part thetotal information which is to be assembled. It is only necessary thatthe person operating the puzzle obtain a yes or no answer from thespectator and it is apparent that the results achieved by such personwill be extremely mystifying to those persons who are not familiar withthe manner in which the unit functions.

Another object is that of constructing a datarevealing device embracingseveral elements and in which such elements when properly associatedwith each other will-as afore brought out-simultaneously reveal amultiplicity of data rather than a single item.

Still another object is that of providing a unit the several parts ofwhich do not have to be arranged in any predetermined or carefullymaintained sequence and in fact these parts will individually appear tobe so diverse with respect to their individual components that even acareful observer will be unable to fathom how the ultimate results areachieved.

With these and other objects in mind, reference is had to the attachedsheets of drawings illustrating one practical embodiment of theinvention and in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates in fragmentary form certain of the cards or elementswhich may form a part of the complete device or unit;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the envelope which is to receive thesecards or elements;

Fig. 3 is a similar view of such elements in association with theenvelope or receiver; and

Fig. 4 is a face view of a master card such as would be employed'inconnection with a complete set of elements or cards.

As afore brought out, the present device is not limited in connectionwith revealing information .as to the day, month, and year of a givenevent, although it is likely that a large percentage of unitsconstructed in accordance with the teachings of this invention willprimarily have in mind the providing of such data. Thus, in the annexeddrawings and following description a device has been shown and describedwhich primarily seeks to provide such particular information. Suchillustration and description are accordingly to be taken in illustrativerather than in a limiting sense. Likewise, in Figs. 1 to 3 only aportion of a complete set has been illustrated with a view to avoidingunnecessary and in some respects a confusing illustration; it beinghereinafter apparent to those skilled in the art, precisely the mannerin which additional elements are to be constructed in order to pro- 1903respectively. The second and sixth cards show the numerals I, 3, and 4,respectively, and the fourth and fifth cards bear the designations ofthe months January, March and April. It is to be understood that eachone of these cards bears uponits front and rear faces similar data andeach of the cards preferably has an upper or heading space or area Hwhich may receive advertising or other desired data. If such data. isnot desired, this space may be materially reduced or embody any desiredconfiguration.

Likewise each of the cards is formed with a series of apertures l-2which to even a discerning eye appear to be arranged in no particularsequence or order. However, as indicated by the reference numeral I3,each of the cards will have upon one of its faces a secret mark orindication. This may take any desired form and present an innocuousappearance such as would be the case if in small type there appeared onpredetermined faces of the cards the legend Mfg. USA.

A master card may be conveniently furnished by having the same form apart of an envelope M as indicated in Fig. 2. If such a construction isrestorted to, the forward face of the envelope is provided with a seriesof windows or apertures l5, one for each of the possible indications ofdata which might occur. The face of the latter card is furnished in theillustrated embodiment by the rear wall It of the envelope and this'rearwall is furnished, by imprinting or otherwise, with indicia,corresponding element for element with all of the indicia which may beembraced in, or capable of being revealed by a given device embodyingthe present invention. As is also apparent, both the cards and theenvelope and/ or master card may be formed of any desired material ormaterials. I V The present invention depends upon the splittingordividing process which producesthe desired data by means of the twosystem. In other words, all numbers are represented as the sum of thepowers of two instead of by means of the decimal or ten system whichrepresents all numbers as a sum of the powers of ten. Thus, referring toFig. 4 wherein a master card has been illustrated which is to befurnished in connection. with a system to determine a given day, month,and year, it will be observed that 108 divisions are presently providedby an aggregation of abbreviations. l6 designating months, symbols lldesignating years, and numerals l8 designating-individual days. Thiscard will furnish an answer within the above limits from the years 1867to 1930 inclusive. This amountsto 64 years to which is added 12 monthsmaking a'total of 76 and there are additionally provided 32 spaces forindividual numbers such as l8. The reason for employing 32 numerals isthat of course 31 numbers are necessary to represent the possible numberof days in a month. However, up to the number 32 is present in orderthat such numbers may be split by-2 five times successively and in equalparts, i. e., 16, 8, 4, 2, and 1. In connection with the 64 years, it isnecessary to splitthese 6 times in succession to arrive at asingledefinite year, while in connection with the months 4 operationswhich split, 16 numbers successively into equal parts are necessary inorder to arrive at a given single designation. Thus, we have a total of15 splitting op- 1 any particular sequence.

erations in order to arrive at a single given year, month, and day.Accordingly, in addition to the master card the particular set willinclude 15 cards, each one of which will be formed with sight aperturesarranged in a -manner such that a definite splitting function isachieved.

At the same time itwill be understood that it will not be necessary toarrange these cards in sary will be to display the set of cards oneafter another to the person being interrogated.

In the event that the answer to questions propou'ndedshows that a'givenyear, day or month appears upon a particular card being displayed, thatcard will be arranged with the secret mark l3 uppermost. If the answeris in the negative, this front face of the card will be disposed dwn-,

jwardly. In this connection it is pointed out that as the 'cards'arestacked or'assembled, each of All that will be neces- I the cardspertaining to data outside their particular sphere have non-interferingsight apertures through which the data of other cards may be viewed. Forexample, the year cards have non-interfering sight apertures for each ofthe days and months appearing on the master card, while the month cardshave non-interfering sight apertures for each of the days and yearsappearing on the master, and the day vcards have non-interfering sightapertures for each of the months and years appearing on the master card.It will thus be apparent that upon all cards having been properlystacked one upon the other and arranged upon the master, the desiredanswer will be displayed by the nonobscured portion of the latter.

This has been shown in simple fashion in Figs. 1, 2,and 3 in which theultimate answer desired is January 3, 1903. The critical apertures havebeen indicated in dash lines in Figs. 1 and 2 and it will be seen thatby facing the cards as shown in Fig. 1, those portions of the mastercard or back l6 which are not to be obscured by portions of one or morecards will in each instance fall in line with the apertures appearing onall cards. Accordingly as shown in Fig. 3 the desired result isdisplayed through the apertures N3 of the envelope. It will be borne inmind that the only thing the operator or demonstrator will have to besure of is the facing of the cards inwardly or outwardly. This may bedone in a very casualmanner and without, as is ordinarily necessary,having the upper edges of certain cards extend upwardly while others arearranged to extend downwardly. Aside from the elimination of this stepwhich is apparent to even a casual observer, it is nevertheless apparentthat by means'of the present invention a number of answers aresimultaneously given rather than having the device limited to a singleOf course, if a greater or lesser amount of questions are to besimultaneously answered,

answer the set of cards may be correspondingly increased or diminishedin number.

To recapitulate and again review the construction and operation of thedevice in order that despite the elimination of unnecessary illustrationthe detailed construction of each card may be grasped-it is apparentthat each card either in its'positiveor negative position leavesvexposed to View exactly one-half of the data which is'printed on the.master card and at the same time covers the other half of the data uponsuch master card. The function of exposing and covering data isaccomplished by perforating the card and leaving unperforated the mateof this perforation. Mate refers to an identical area on the same sideof the card either to the right or to the left of the perforationthrough a horizontal line on the face of the card. Thus, one perforationor opening and one area, unperforated, both equi-distant from therespective left and right edges of a given card, produce splitting of.data.

As afore brought out thisis accomplished by placing a card bearing theseperforations and unperforated areas in proper'registrywith the top ofthe master card. The openings on each card present a confusingappearance to the eye. The openings applicable to each card are widelyscattered and interspersed-with other openings whichifunction inconnectionwith cards bear- .ing other data. In other wordsfifa givencard refers to a year certain of the openings or apertures of that cardare provided for the purpose of leaving unobscured the indiciadesignating, for example, days and months. Also, it will be understoodthat the master card will require no manipulation excepting only thatthe other cards will be superimposed thereon.

From the foregoing the construction of the apertured cards associatedwith the master card. of Fig. 4 may readily be visualized. For example:in connection with the cards bearing the year indicia, the first willobscure thirtytwo of the year designations appearing upon the card asshown in Fig. 4. The next card will cancel half of the remaining yearimprintings; leaving unobscured sixteen yearly designations. Applicationof the next apertured card will, in turn, cancel half of these and thenext card will divide the remainder in half; thus leaving four yearlyindicia uncovered. Obviously, through application of two more cards, ofthis type, all will be obscured except the date of one year, which willbe the one desired. The cards dealing with, for example, the days of themonth and months of the year will be apertured to achieve the samefunctional results with respect to the indicia relating to theirrespective categories. It is thus apparent that there is no use- .fulpurpose in illustrating in detail the set of cards for association withthe master shown in Fig. 4. The precise construction of thesewill followthe structure and principles generally indicated in Fig. 1.

From the foregoing it will be understood that among others the severalobjects of the invention as specifically afore noted are achieved.Obviously numerous changes in construction and rearrangement of theparts might be resorted to in order to provide for any desired type ofanswer or answer and without departing from the spirit of the claims.

I claim:

1. A data-revealing device including in combination, a master card, atleast a first set and a second set of different indicia upon the facethereof, a first and second set of further cards, the individual cardsof each set being adapted to be superimposed upon said master card,indicia formed on cards of the first set corresponding to some of theindicia of the first set on the master card, indicia formed on the cardsof the second set corresponding to some of the indicia of the second seton the master card, means associated with the individual cards of thefirst set to reveal only a portion of the related indicia of the firstset on the master card and all of the indicia of the second set on themaster card, and means associated with the individual cards of thesecond set to reveal only a portion of the related indicia of the secondset on the master card and all'of the indicia of the first set on themaster card, whereby predetermined data on said master card will bedisplayed through the individual cards.

2. A datarevealing device including in combination, a master card, atleast a first set and a second set of different indicia upon the facethereof and extending in the same direction and being decipherable fromone given position, a first and second set of further cards, theindividual cards of each set being adapted to be superimposed upon saidmaster card, indicia formed on the cards of the first set correspondingto some of the indicia of the first set on the master card, indiciaformed on the cards of the second set corresponding to some of theindicia of the second set on the master" card, means associated with theindividual cardso'f the first set to reveal only a portion of therelated indicia of the first set on the master card and all of theindicia of the second set on the master card, and means associated withthe individual cards of the second set to reveal only a portionof therelated indicia. of the second set on the master card and all of theindicia of the first set on the master card, whereby predetermined dataon said master card will be displayed through the individual cards.

3. A data-revealing device including in com.- bination, a master card,at least a first set and a second set of different indicia upon the facethereof, a first and second set of further cards, the individual cardsof each set being adapted to be superimposed upon said master card,indicia formed on the cards of thefirst set corresponding to some of theindicia of the first set on the master card, indicia formed on the cardsof the second set corresponding to some of the indicia of the second seton the master card, apertures associated with individual cards of thefirst set to reveal only a portion of the related indicia of the firstset on the master card and all of the indicia of the second set on themaster card, and apertures associated with individual cards of thesecond set to reveal only a portion of the related indicia of the secondset on the master card and all of the indicia of the first set on themaster card, whereby predetermined data on said master card will bedisplayed through the individual cards.

4. A data-revealing device including in combination, a master card, atleast a first. set and a second set of different indicia upon the facethereof, extending in the same direction and being decipherable from onegiven position, a first and second set of further cards, the individualcards of each set being adapted to be superimposed upon said mastercard, indicia formed on the cards of the first set corresponding to someof the indicia of the first set on the master card, indicia formed onthe cards of the second set corresponding to some of the indicia of thesecond set on the master card, apertures associated with the individualcards of the first set to reveal only a portion of the related indiciaof the first set on the master card andall of the indicia of the secondset on the master card, and apertures associated with the individualcards of the second set to reveal only a portion of the realted indiciaof the second set on the master card and all of the indicia of the firstset on the master card, whereby predetermined data on said master cardwill be displayed through the individual cards.

5. A data-revealing device including in combination, a"master card, atleast a first set and a second set of different indicia upon the facethereof, a first and second set of further cards, the individual cardsof each set being adapted to be superimposed upon said master card,identical indicia formed on each of the cards of the first set on eachof its faces and corresponding to some of the indicia of the first seton the master card, identical indicia formed on each of the cards of thesecond set on each of its faces and corresponding to some of the indiciaof the second set on the master card, means associated with theindividualcards of the first set to reveal only a portion of the relatedindicia of the first set on the master card and all of the indicia ofthe second set on the master card, and means associated with theindividual cards of the second set to reveal only a portion of therelated indicia of the second set on the master" adapted to besuperimposed upon said master card, identical indicia formed on theindividual cards of the first set on each of its faces corresponding tosome ofthe indicia of the first set on the master card, identicalindicia formed on; the individual cards of the second set oneach of itsfaces corresponding to some of the indicia of the second set on themaster card, means associated with the individual cards of the firstsetto reveal only a portion of the related indicia of the first set onthe master card and all of the indicia of the second set on the mastercard, means associated with'the individual cards of the second set toreveal only a portion of the related indicia of the second set on themaster card and all of the indicia of the first set on the master card,and an inconspicuous mark associated with one only of the faces of saidindividual. cards to identify the manner in which each of saidindividual cards is to be arranged upon said master card, wherebypredetermined data on said master card will be displayed through theindividual cards. 7

'7. A data-revealing device including in combination, a master card, atleast a first set and a second set of different indicia upon the facethereof and extending in the same direction: and being decipherable fromone given position, a first and second set of further cards, theindividual cards of each set being adapted to be superimposed upon saidmaster card, identical indicia formed on the individual cards of thefirst set on each of its faces corresponding to some of the indicia ofthe first set on the master card,,identical indicia formed on theindividual cards of the second set on each of its faces corresponding tosome of the indicia of the second set on the master card, aperturescarried by the individual cards of the first set to reveal only aportion of the related indicia. of the. first set on the master card andall of the indicia of the second set on the master card, aperturescarried by the individual cards of the second set to reveal only aportion of the related indicia of the second set on the master card andall of the indicia; of the first set on the master card, and aninconspicuous mark associated with one only of the faces of saidindividual cardsvto identify the manner in which each of said individualcards is to be arranged upon said master card, whereby predetermineddata on said master" card will be displayed through the individualcards. i 8. A data-revealing device including in combination, anenvelope, a master card formed on the inner rear wall thereof, at leasta first set and a second set of different indicia formed on the face ofsaid master card, a first and second set of further cards, theindividual cards of each set being adapted to be superimposed upon saidmaster card, indicia formed on the cards of the first set correspondingto some of the indicia of the first set on the master card, indiciaformed on the cards of the second set corresponding to some of theindicia of the second set on the master card, means carried by theindividual cards of the first set to reveal only a portion of therelated indicia of the first set on the master card and all of theindicia of the second set on the master card, means carried by theindividual cards of the second set to reveal only a portion of therelated indicia of the second set on the master card and all of theindicia of the firstset on the master card, and said envelope havingmeans in its upper face to display data whereby predetermined data onsaid master card will be displayed through the individual cards and theupper face of the envelope.

9. A data-revealing device including in com- 7 bination, a master cardhaving upon its face *1 a set of indicia extending in the same directionand being decipherable from one given position, a set of cards, theindividual cards of said set being adapted to be superimposed upon saidmaster card, identical indicia on each of the facesof each individualcard and corresponding to some of the indicia on the master card, andmeans on each individual card to reveal only a portion of the indicia onthe master card, whereby predetermined data on said master card will bedisplayed through the individual cards.

10. A data-revealing device including in combination, a "master card, aset of indicia formed upon the face thereof and extending in the same cdirection and being decipherable from one given position, a set offurther cards, the individual cards of said set being adapted to besuperimposed upon said master card, identical indicia formed on eachindividual card on each of its faces corresponding to some of theindicia on the maSter 'card, and apertures carried by each individualcard to reveal only a portion of the indicia on the master card, theapertures in each of said cards being arranged so that any 1 given cardis perforated in one area and left unperforated in a corresponding areathrough a horizontal line in the face of such card, wherebypredetermined data will be displayed through the individual cards.

ISIDORE GOLDNER.

